New Funnies.

Me: Hey look Ellie, Lulu is catching a bug to eat.
Ellie: I can mmm da bug?
Me: No. No, you don't eat bugs. You're a little girl. Lulu can eat bugs because she's a cat.
Ellie: I CAN MMM DA BUG?
Me: No. You can eat some of this banana.
Ellie: I can mmm my binah!

So, we go for a walk almost every morning. She has to get on board with it, whether she's ready or not. Some days, she is really excited to get my shoes for me. Some days, she will take the second one and cry when I try to put it on.
Me: I need to wear that shoe so we can walk.
Ellie: I can have it?
Me: No, you can't have it. If you want, I can use it to kick you in the butt.
Ellie: Kick my butt?
Me: Yeah, turn around. I'll kick you in the butt.
Ellie: Dada can kick my butt wid his sock?
Me: Yeah, daddy will kick your butt too, go over to him.
Tim: Turn around, let me kick you in the butt.

After her nap, racing into the living room:
Ellie: I'M AWAKE NOW!

At 7am in the morning.
Ellie: I'm awake now! I climb up to mama. Hug hug hug. I snuggle on dada pillow. Mama be awake now?

Ellie: Dada car?
Me: Daddy took his car and went to work.
Ellie: Dada at his work.
Me: Does your daddy work hard for the money?
Ellie: NO!

Ellie: mama put on some make up?
Me: Do you think I need make up?
Ellie: Yes!
Me: Do you think I'm looking ugly?
Ellie: Yes!
Me: Okay, let's put on some makeup. How do I look?
Ellie: Good!

Busy Day!

Last week was our final week of tumbling class, and we don't start back up with music class until next week, so today seemed like a perfect day to take the girls to the petting zoo. And indeed, it was. We got there at 9:30 and the place was empty, so all of the rabbits and guinea pigs were excited to see us (and our carrot sticks.) The girls got their fill of petting the animals (the first time) and then it was fun time in the corn box, some playing on the swing set they have there, and back to say a final goodbye to the small animals. We did feed the goats a bit, but generally, the pen with the pigs/goats/sheep is avoided, because they are large, slightly aggressive, and incredibly smelly.

It's just fun to see Ellie so excited - delighted by the guinea pigs squeaking, in love with the rabbits, spending a good half hour just rolling around in a bunch of dry corn (I found a kernel in her diaper at 5pm, even though I'd shaken her clothes out and already changed her diaper earlier in the day. How that corn got there, I have no idea.) She's very gentle and sweet with the animals, and overjoyed every time I get one to sit in her lap with her.

Afterwards we got lunch and the girls were very cute, splitting a grilled cheese and begging for fries like little puppy dogs. We stopped by to say hey to the knitters, and then Ellie sacked out for a fat nap on the way over to Gigi's house. Then she cried when she woke up at Gigi wasn't home yet. It's hard to be a little girl.

Funny: the past two days she has looked at me while playing with someone else (last night Tim, this afternoon Gigi) and said "go away mama!" I know I'm supposed to be all hurt and weep because my child rejected me, but in reality, it's like, "oh well, bye then, fart face!" I would have paid good money for her to be happy with someone else back when she was a tiny, colicky baby, and so I'm in no place to resent it now! MORE ALONE TIME FOR ME!

Tonight we went with Gigi and Grizz and Sara to a Tip a Cop fundraiser at Chili's, to raise funds for Special Olympics. Ellie was a bit of a pill when we arrived, but Grizz saved the day with the monkey game on his phone, and she was actually much improved by the arrival of a cup of milk. Her main motivation was getting some of Auntie Sara's french fries (and I can't blame her, they were good fries) so I bargained with her, and induced her to eat a couple of bites of chicken and a handful of cherry tomatoes (which I am now carrying with me everywhere because they are a good, healthy snack for her) in between fries.

OH THE CHILDRENSES! Tomorrow all we have is a play date, and then the moms and I are ditching the kids with our husbands and going out for some Professional Development. That means cocktails!

Go Pack Go.

Hey Grizz, sorry your team lost on your birthday.

How's about you cheer yourself by feeding myself more birthday cake?

Then she went on to cheer, using the tissue paper leftover from Grizz's presents.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

 

A few months ago, Kristen mentioned that it would be fun to take the girls to a baseball game this summer. So we checked the calendar, found a night game with an early enough start, and booked ourselves a couple of tickets in the cheap seats (BUT they also included a free hot dog and a free small soda, so it's like they paid me to attend. Paid me with hot dogs.)

It had been kind of a rough day - Ellie woke up early and was whining the second her feet hit the floor. She fought nap time for close to an hour, and I was just about to kill her when she finally shut her dang eyes and went to sleep. Tim and I were trying to get out to go look at appliances, and we had the game, so she HAD to go to sleep. (We left her in the care of Gigi.) Funny: Gigi was apparently just about to come upstairs and rescue me, but when she came to the door she heard me lecturing "if you don't take a nap, then no Gigi, and no Lexi tonight." She wisely chose not to open the door and say "GIGI TIME!"

(Also, appliance shopping was fine.)

So, rough day, feeling frustrated, over tired child did not take a great nap, but she was SUCH a good little girl at the game. There was a lot of clapping, a lot of chatting with Lexi, and a lot of dancing. 

 

We managed to hang on until the middle of the 8th inning. The Angels had it well in hand and it was bed time, so we figured, better to be fairweather fans (aka, almost all California fans) and leave before the end of the game, rather than push the girls just to say we'd stayed the whole time. Mostly, I'd wanted to stay until the 7th inning stretch, because on the car ride over, Ellie had demanded we'd sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" about ten times in a row, and said "baseball game?" about a million times. She very much enjoyed singing and dancing with us, though I can't believe they didn't put her and Lexi on the kiss cam.

The other hit of the night was the ice cream sundaes in baseball caps that Kristen and I escape to get.

Poor Ellie apparently melted down the second she realized I'd left, and Tim had to take her for a lap. When I got back she had huge fat tears on her face, and then she said "mama come right back! I don't know what happened. I sad." Ice cream cheered her up, as it always does.

In addition to the Angels, the Twins won tonight, as did the Bruins! Hopefully the Packers can also pull it out tomorrow, in honor of Grizz's Happy Day. During the game tonight, Ellie took the liberty of screeching "go Pack go" at the top of her lungs. She's ready for some football!

Step Two.

My construction supervisor (my dad) and I met with the general contractor today, and he is a hit. He had some good ideas about how to maximize the space in our kitchen and make it more useable, and he's got a pretty enormous shop, so the cabinets, granite and tile will all be supplied by him. The project can start in eight weeks, and he estimates it'll take about two and a half weeks to get the job done (which I know means ONE MILLION YEARS) so while we won't be hosting Thanksgiving, we'll have a kitchen for Christmas and beyond. 2013, the year I make turkeys every week because I can!

We are officially doing this, and Tim and I will be shopping for appliances this weekend. We've gotten our fair ration of shit for "procrastinating" on this project, but after the crap show that was being 34 weeks pregnant and having holes punched in my ceiling, combined with being a full time dairy cow for the first year and a half of Ellie's life, I haven't been mentally ready to tackle this project. And in the end, even if we'd waited another two years, it's not like our kitchen is a condemned, moldy hole in the ground that we've been refusing to fix. Now, it will have beautiful new counters and tiles for the new year. MIMOSAS FOR EVERYONE!

Ellie continues to crack me up. This afternoon she suddenly burst into the living room and yelled "I'm awake now!" after her nap. Oh, indeed, I see you are. She then spent the next half hour reading with me and eating raw green beans, washed and snapped in half. Then we went outside for a good hour of chalk time.

She was a happy, dirty little chubba cheeks.



She's just so funny lately. She made me draw her some bunnies, and then started petting the chalk drawing, saying how soft and nice the hop hops were. Later, she was talking about how hop hops hop away to their mamas, and she could fly like a bird, so she was running around waving her hands in the air. Like she just didn't care.

Step One.

Called a contractor today about getting the kitchen redone.

Because I heard somewhere (read: from anyone who has ever owned, used, or walked into a kitchen) that renovating one takes awhile. I thought it was going to be like a reality show, where the crew comes in and then two days later I walk in with a blindfold over my eyes, take it off and burst into tears about how I got a beautiful new kitchen for free. But apparently, that is not the case.

The good news is, the process is officially started. Sadly, I hear I will also have to put a bunch of money where my mouth is. It will be worth it, to have counter space and non-melamine cabinets.

Jubilation Day.

You know what is allllllmost more fun than this sweet, innocent little face?

Spending an evening with my boyfriend, listening to some fantastic music. Did you know that Steve Martin is playing banjo with a bluegrass band? And that they are AWESOME?

I then made Tim walk with me to Amoeba Records so that we could buy some additional Steep Canyon Rangers CDs. Their live version of this song absolutely gave me chills.

We had a very nice night out in Hollywood, and Ellie was apparently a little angel baby doll for her Mimi and Pa. We very much appreciate their willingness to take on the entertaining of tiny, overnight guests.

We were able to all reunite at Gigi and Grizz's house for a Labor Day BBQing of bratwurst, and some delicious popcorn salad. It is my new favorite mayonnaise based salad, by a long shot (brats are always my favorite.)

And we convinced Ellie to go in the pool at dusk to do some tricks for Mimi and Pa.

She was even convinced to jump off the back wall for them

She's in there.... somewhere...